Charisteas steps forward in convincing win over Roda: 4-1
4 (2) - 1
(0)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Saturday, 24 September, 2005
Against Sparta Prague, AZ
and ADO Den Haag, Ajax played well for at least one
half, created many scoring chances but ended up dropping points
due to inefficiency upfront. In a good home
performance against Roda JC the red and
white finally managed to translate their
superiority to the score-board: 4-1. Perhaps even more
importantly, Angelos Charisteas gave himself a confidence
boost by scoring a brace of typical 'striker goals' in the
first half.
Charisteas celebrates with
teammates. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Using the word 'crisis' would be a
bit of an exaggeration, but after the
bitter disappointment of the AZ and Den Haag games
Danny Blind had to admit in the press that he has a 'striker
problem' and that the gap with league leaders AZ and
Feyenoord has become worryingly big already. On top of that,
the Ajax boss had to improvise due to the absence
of Grygera, Trabelsi
(injured), Heitinga and Lindenbergh (suspended).
Blind came up with a highly surprising 3-4-3
line-up, with Nigel de Jong and Thomas
Vermaelen as the outer defenders, Steven Pienaar and Urby
Emanuelson as the outer midfielders and Mauro Rosales and
Nourdin Boukhari as the two wingers. Julien Escudé and
Ryan Babel started on the bench. It was a 'milestone' in
an ironic way: for the first time this season not a single
Ajacied in the starting line-up played out of position...
It would be unfair to state that
this was the reason why Ajax played so well in the first half
(Ajax's first half performances in Prague and Alkmaar
were even better than the first 45 minutes against Roda),
but it is a fact that the Amsterdammers once again had
a good start, but also typical trouble to convert the
chances: Angelos Charisteas failed eye in eye with
goalkeeper Vladan Kujovic, after which Pienaar's
shot went over via the cross-bar. A few minutes
later Nigel de Jong's diagonal shot hit the inside of
the post.
Ajax goalkeeper Hans Vonk had
nothing to do in the first half: no chances, no
shooting attempts, no moments of serious pressure. It typifies
the state of Roda JC: club president Nol Hendriks outraged the
supporters by selling the club's superstar, Arouna Koné,
to PSV in an unexpected last-gasp transfer, 'Zlatan
style'. Roda didn't score a single goal since and are the
unusual #17 on the table with just one win (3 points).
Just like in the ADO Den Haag game
Ajax broke the deadlock shortly before the 30 minute mark.
Mauro Rosales (who is returning to form and had an energetic
first half) launched Steven Pienaar with a smart
thru-pass. The South-African pulled the ball back to
Angelos Charisteas, who had the privilege to finish the
fluent attack by calmly tapping home, the way a striker should:
1-0 (27'). Chari became Ajax's first half
hero thirteen minutes later, as Urby Emanuelson rushed
across midfield and set the Greek up with a
razorsharp thru-pass, which a sliding Charisteas pushed
past Kujovic with the tip of his toe: 2-0 (40'). Both goals
were typical 'striker goals': finishes that give a centre
forward confidence. It was Charisteas' reward for a fine first
half.
Good first half, plenty of
chances, 2-0 up... when did we see that before...? Against
Den Haag it went terribly wrong in stoppage time. That's why
Ajax weren't convinced that they were going to win and
celebrated Steven Pienaar's 3-0 (a low, left-footed shot from
the edge of the box that seemed to surprise Kujovic a
bit) as a tremendously important one
Just like in recent weeks Ajax's
play in the second half was not as good as in the first,
although it must be said that Roda never created a serious
chance (but then again: neither did Den Haag...). Nourdin
Boukhari, meanwhile, wasted two great chances and should
have been awarded a penalty when he came face to face
with Kujovic and was 'sandwiched' by two defenders. He
did get a penalty in the 86th minute, this time for a
shameless dive over Kujovic's arms. Tomás Galásek
converted stylishly: 4-1.
A few minutes before Ajax's
spotkick Roda had notched their goal. Substitute Edrissa
Sonko was completely unmarked, right in front of Hans Vonk on a
free-kick from the left. He could easily nod against the
netting (81'). Does it tell us anything that
Roda were unable to score an Eredivisie goal for well over
a month (last goal: 20 August) but broke the spell against
Ajax...? Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't.
Most importantly: after referee
Temmink's final whistle almost 46,000 people could finally
celebrate Ajax's first home win of the season, after an
entertaining and - all in all - convincing performance by their
team. Angelos Charisteas was voted 'Man of the Match'. Good for
him. These facts are important with the Champions League home
match against Arsenal coming up.
Coach Danny Blind: "My team
deserves a compliment for the way they won this game after
a couple of troublesome weeks. There was some pressure on us,
inevitably, but we played well, especially in the first half. A
win was essential after last Wednesday. Ajax's play was
acceptable, sometimes good."
The ArenA crowd got to welcome
two newcomers: left fullback Juanfran and Young Ajax's right
fullback Emmanuel Boakye had their first official
appearances in Ajax-1. It was a personal highlights for them,
but - unfortunately - they had to be brought on
because two potential starters for Tuesday had picked up
rather worrying knocks, namely Nigel de Jong (buttock muscle)
and Wesley Sneijder (hamstring). They are very serious
'question marks' for the Arsenal fixture and they are not the
only ones: for Zdenek Grygera (who watched the game from the
ever noisy Vak 410!) and Hatem Trabelsi it will also be a
battle against time, a battle that Trabelsi, in particular, is
unlikely to win.
Arsène Wenger, manager of
Arsenal, has almost exactly the same problems as Danny Blind: a
list of injuries (Henry, Bergkamp, Pires), a team that
has trouble scoring (9 goals in 6 games)
and dropped eight points in six league league
games. You'd expect that goals will be dear on Tuesday evening
at the Amsterdam ArenA... (MP)
GOALS
- 27' 1-0 Angelos Charisteas
- 40' 2-0 Angelos Charisteas
- 70' 3-0 Steven Pienaar
- 81' 3-1 Edrissa Sonko
- 86' 4-1 Tomás Galásek
(penalty)
Referee: Temmink
Cards:
none
Attendance: 45,856
Ajax line-up: Vonk; De Jong (80. Boakye),
Maduro, Vermaelen; Pienaar, Galásek, Sneijder (75.
Juanfran), Emanuelson; Rosales (46. Babel), Charisteas,
Boukhari.
Roda JC line-up: Kujovic; Bodnar,
Voigt, Kah, Filipovic (75. Van Dessel); Bodor, Van Dijk,
Lachambre; Sergio (62. Sonko), Derksen (62. Cissé),
Oper.
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